17

i just finished reading this book and i’m already looking into buying their next book “Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?”. it was a very interesting book, full of answers and simple facts on many questions you have asked yourself at least once but never bothered finding out. the subtitle is spot on: “Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini”.

Leyner is a writer, he can be spotted in the New Yorker and GQ, and Golberg is a doctor in New-York. you’ll love the mix of humor and scientific explanations on questions such as: “why do old ladies grow beards?”, “does coffee stunt your growth?”, and “can lip balm be addictive?”. when the authors write “we expect it to be toilet reading”, they are probably right, but i still think that it makes for a very entertaining read.

04

I really enjoyed this book, even though at time I found it very lengthy. It discusses the fact that technology, such as the world wide web and fiber optic cables, is shrinking the world even more than the industrial revolution of the 1900’s. Friedman uses the success of certain Indian companies, such as Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, and Infosys Technologies, as example to show the possibilities that the flatten world offers. He presents, in the first part of his book, the ten flatteners that are reshaping the world as we know it today. I liked the examples he presented in the book and found his way of explaining technology really easy to understand. He chose his examples really carefully, and he seemed to have had a lot of experiences worth sharing with the reader.

In my opinion, the main problem with the book is that it could have been about 100 pages shorter (this newly edited/expanded version is about 580 pages long). And usually I don’t mind lengthy books, because it helps me really understand the points, but I found that some of the ideas were repeated and/or some of the subjects were out of scope. I don’t really care to give any particular examples here, but I felt that at many points in the book. Overall though, it was a really good book. Well worth buying and reading. One can only grow and learn a lot about the new world by reading it. Admittedly though, it scares me to think of the future after reading the book.

Thumbs up to Friedman, he captured my attention and I will surely pick up a copy of his next publication. He is a very talented writer.

27

I must admit that this book made me realize how much of a nerd, sorry, geek I truly am. The whole time I was reading about their jokes, their stories and how they felt about some subjects, I kept telling myself: “I AM such a geek!”. I could so relate to them, especially through the way they were thinking about life and some of the meaningless things we do. Douglas Coupland did an amazing job at bringing the characters and the stories to life, and making us want to know more about them. In an nutshell, it begins by the story of a group of Microsoft employees who live in microsoft group house in Redmond, and how their lives are all defined by the work at Microsoft. I couldn’t have read this book at a better time having just visited the Microsoft campus for interviews last fall (November 2006). I could still see the buildings, the people, the city of Redmond, and the whole ambiance that hangs around the Microsoft campus.

I really have to give thanks to Tracey for buying me this super good book for christmas. It was a really nice present and I really enjoyed it!

02

Another great book by Bryson. This time about his travels in Europe. I love the way Bill Bryson just tells you about his trip and all the anecdotes with such an honest tone. However, it does tend to be pretty much the same from cities to cities, which consist of finding an hotel, usually way too expensive, wandering around the city, visiting a church or two and then starting to drink. Luckily for us, the drinking part is always accompanied by one of those funny moments that will make you laugh out loud in the bus while reading.

01

A classic in its kind. A book on the kind of economics that can only truly be described as Freakonomics. Intelligently written by Stephen J. Dubner, it is the story of the many riddles that Steven D. Levitt’s brain has been struggling to answer for the past couple of years.

I had just finished reading Freakonomics, and, already, I wanted more. The nonchalant writing style Dubner has in this book, and the way he tells the stories of Levitt’s numbers and studies simply makes you want to have more. It makes you want to study economics, but most of all, it gives you a whole new perspective on some of today’s problems in society. The main thing that fascinated me was the way the book was written. The surprising titles, and the even more surprising links between subject you would never have though had connections. What they have called Freakonomics. The book is filled with striking examples of the authors’ creative use of economic theory. They have also included at the beginning of each chapters in the book a glimpse of Levitt’s life, which usually links the idea of the chapters. Here are a couple of quotes from the book, which I hope you enjoy and makes you want to read it even more: